On The Set
by AADale
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia get nostalgic after their last day of shooting.


On the Set

/

Author's Note – I'm feeling a little nostalgic today, and wondering if the Bleach characters are feeling the same way.

/

Rukia was walking along the corridor from Set 3A to the parking lot when she ran into Ichigo. Both of them were dressed in street clothes. Rukia carried a shopping bag.

"Hey, Ichigo! You taking anything?"

"Nah. Whatcha got there?"

"Oh, I'm taking one of the Kon puppets. You know, you really should grab something. Ikkaku's walking off with like half the Seireitei set."

"I'm good."

Rukia paused. "So, if you're not here to loot the place, what are you doing?"

"I don't know. Just one more walk around the set, I guess. I'm feeling a little nostalgic."

"Well, it's not like Bleach is shutting down. We're all still going to be working on the manga. And there'll probably be more movies…and sooner or later you know that Hollywood is going to get the rights to Bleach, and we're all going to be going out there."

"Yeah, great. Working for Michael Bay."

Rukia laughed. "Welll, I wouldn't mind getting a couple of those paychecks like the Transformers cast got."

"Sellout!" Ichigo smiled. "So, no nostalgia for you?"

"I don't think it's sunk in yet. I've gotten like five texts from Orihime about dinner tonight. It just feels like a normal day. I'm probably just in denial. I guess it'll sink in on Monday when I head over to the manga studio instead of coming here. We sure have been on this set for a long time, though."

"Yeah. Best memory?"

"Oh, let's see. I think I liked doing the Kaien flashback scenes the best. Those were the most involved from an acting standpoint."

"You don't get to talk about acting after saying you wanna be in a Michael Bay movie."

"What about you? What's your favorite memory?"

"I don't know…probably just shooting baskets with Byakuya between takes."

"Boy, you really are in a nostalgic mood. That was always so funny, seeing the two of you clowning around on the court, and then you'd both switch into full-on hate mode as soon as the cameras started rolling."

"Yeah. He's a great guy. He's got to be the person who's least like his character on the show."

"Yeah, probably. Who do you think is most like their character?"

"I dunno, Mayuri?" The both laughed. Ichigo thought about it for a moment, then said, "definitely Ikkaku. He's got that same crazed energy as his character. I swear, sometimes he has to dial it down on camera."

Rukia smiled at the thought. "Yeah, we have been here a long time. Good gig."

"Yeah, for most of us."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know that this was a rough job for Toshiro. He went through puberty on this set. Acting opposite Rangiku. The poor kid had a nosebleed for like the first two years."

"OK, yeah, and Sajin had it rough, too. All that prosthetic work for every scene, even the ones where he was just in the background. You had to go through a lot of that prosthetics too."

"Only for the hollow scenes. Oh, you know what, there's something I did take off the set, years ago. That first hollow mask. That thing was terrible. It never fit right, and they used to use so much glue."

Rukia's phone buzzed.

"Orihime again?" Ichigo asked.

Rukia checked. "Yeah. Do you want to join us for dinner?"

"Nah, it's okay. I've got plans."

"Well…" Rukia gave Ichigo a hug, a little tighter and a lot longer than either of them expected. Ichigo called out, "help, somebody, I'm being sexually harassed". Then he noticed that she was crying.

"I'm sorry", he said, "did I bring down the mood too much?"

"No, it's ok. It's just, you're right, things are going to be different. You know, as an actor, you get maybe one of these long-running roles in your lifetime, unless you're William Shatner. And he had to wait like 25 years for his comeback."

"Heh. Yeah, I know. You and me, we're gonna be Shatners. We're going to be doing the convention circuit for years, out of shape with big ol' bellies under our shinigami robes."

"Yeah, robes are a lot more forgiving than Star Fleet uniforms."

She squeezed him one more time, then broke off the hug. She had a serious look on her face.

"Promise me that you'll keep in touch."

"Knock it off. We're going to be doing a scene together on Tuesday."

"Yeah, I know, but promise me."

"OK, I promise. You too."

"I will."

"This is starting to feel like a scene from the show."

"Yeah, I know. Weird." Rukia brushed the last tear from her eye. "Well, it's been a pleasure working with you, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"It's been a pleasure working with you, Rukia Kuchiki."

They shook hands.

Rukia asked, "so, are you going to be headed out soon?"

"No, I think I'm still going to walk around a while."

"Oh, well, I'll see you on Tuesday."

"Yup. Tuesday."

And Rukia turned and walked through the door, and out into the parking lot.


End file.
